Screen Printing Trivia

Did you know that…

The term serigraph is a combination of two ancient languages – the prefix “seri” (Latin for silk) and “graphein” (Greek for write or draw).
The term “screen printing” is often interchangeable with the terms “serigraphy” and “silkscreening”? It all depends on the the context it is being used – artistic, industrial, or commercial. At the Serie Project, where we create fine art prints, we most commonly use the term “serigraphy.”
Screen printing is a form of stenciling that first appeared in a recognizable form in China as early as the 8th century AD? Stenciling is a technique for reproducing designs by passing ink or paint over holes cut in cardboard or metal onto the surface to be decorated.
A group of artists involved in the WPA Federal Art Project, who later formed the National Serigraphic Society, coined the word “serigraphy” in the 1930s to differentiate the artistic application of screen printing from the industrial use of the process? With the influential critic and print curator Carl Zigrosser, Anthony Velonis coined the word “serigraph” to convey the fine art rather than commercial aspect of the process.
Velonis also wrote a book entitled Silk Screen Technique (New York: Creative Crafts Press, 1939) that was used as a “how-to” manual for other poster divisions. He traveled extensively to advise FAP artists on the technique of silkscreening.

Andy Warhol, Gold Marilyn Monroe, 1962

Credit is given to Andy Warhol for popularizing screen printing in the United States, particularly with his 1962 depiction of actress Marilyn Monroe screen printed in garish colors? Warhol made this painting the year screen legend Marilyn Monroe committed suicide. He painted the canvas an iridescent gold and silkscreened the star’s face in the center of the composition.
Like other paintings by Warhol that feature Monroe’s likeness, this work is based on a 1953 publicity still for the movie Niagara. By duplicating a photograph known to millions, Warhol undermined the uniqueness and authenticity characteristic of traditional portraiture. Instead he presented Monroe as an infinitely reproducible image.
The Printer’s National Environmental Assistance Center says “Screenprinting is arguably the most versatile of all printing processes”?
The current world record of t-shirts printed per hour is 1805, set in 2005 by Maddie Sikorski?